The TBL Baseball Annual A publication of the Transcontinental Baseball League Realignment 2017 Edition Walter H. Hunt All 24 Teams Analyzed Robert Jordan Using the T.Q. System Mark H. Bloom The TBL Baseball Annual A publication of the Transcontinental Baseball League by Walter H. Hunt Robert Jordan Mark H. Bloom with contributions from TBL’s managers and extra help from: Paul Montague Clay Beard Ray Murphy Jim Dietz Copyright © 2017 Walter H. Hunt, except the Cubs poem, which is copyright © 2017, Jim Dietz. This book was produced using a Macintosh with Adobe InDesign and Adobe Photoshop CS4. I can be reached by mail at 3306 Maplebrook Road, Bellingham, MA 02019 or by e-mail at [email protected]. The 2017 TBL Annual 3 the TBL baseball annual Welcome to the 2017 TBL Baseball Annual. This is the twenty-second year of the Annual in the book format. This year we’re looking at realignment, and all the conse- quences; more than half of the teams in our league have changed addresses. There are new rivalries and new configurations, and thus new story lines for our magazine. Our most senior manager brings us a great historical overview of our previous divi- sions and pennant races – how we came to our present arrangement. For our veteran managers, it’s a walk down memory lane; for our newer friends, it’s evidence of the depth and strength of our league. A brief apology: time and gaps in knowledge have forced us to skip over the playoff descriptions this year. There were two epic series that went seven games, both men- tioned in Year in Review articles: Melrose came within one key pitch of going to the World Series instead of Munich; and Maracaibo took Las Vegas in seven games before bowing to the Marauders. Enjoy the Annual and enjoy the season. Walter, Robert, Mark May, 2017 The T.Q. System Shamelessly stolen from the Mazeroski annual, the T.Q. System assigns points to each area of the team’s expected performance and totals the result. The maximum score under the T.Q. System is 50, divided as follows: Pitching: 20 points Offense: 17 points Defense: 8 points Bench: 5 points The T.Q. System does not take age or prospect value into account, only present capability. It does, however, consider usage (available games, at bats and innings). 4 The 2017 TBL Annual table of contents FRONT MATTER Future Drafts 6 TQ Summary 7 Manager Roll Call 8 2017 Computer Pre-Play Clay Beard 9 Hall of Fame 10 The Vegas Line Paul Harrington 12 Realignment Paul Montague 14 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Clemente Division Whole New Ballgame 18 Calusa 20 Whitman 24 Riverwoolf 28 Blue Hill 32 Mays Division It All Comes Together 36 New Westminster 38 Maracaibo 42 Gotham City 46 Rye 50 Ruth Division No Mercy 54 Brobdingnag 56 Hoboken 60 Knoxville 64 Midwest 68 2016 World Series Report 72 NATIONAL CONFERENCE Aaron Division Rolling the Dice 86 Las Vegas 76 Strong City 80 Kansas 84 Melrose 88 Mantle Division Maybe Too Close To Call 92 Hudson 94 Munich 98 Detroit 102 Columbus 106 Williams Division Dogfight, Old School 110 Grand Cayman 112 Northboro 116 Zion 120 Warrenton 124 FINAL WORDS Breakthrough 128 Future 129 Editorial 130 Commissioner’s Report Ray Murphy 131 Scholarly Update 132 Curse Reversed: 2016 Edition Jim Dietz 134 The 2017 TBL Annual 5 future drafts In many cases, what’s on the field isn’t the whole story. Some of our teams have quite a bit to say in future drafts, and any evaluation should properly take that into account. The graphical displays below show how much each team has in the tank. The middle 9 mark on the thermometer (9) represents a full draft (picks #1-#3) in 2017; above the base middle line is excess, while below means something’s missing. haves have nots RIVERWOOLF. Their own #1 along with GOTHAM CITY. Their own #1 and #2. Strong City and Munich’s; four #2s. 25 7 KNOXVILLE. Two #1s, four #2s, and a #3. Unfortunately neither of the #1s is theirs: they MUNICH. No #1 or #2, but three #3s. 22 have Calusa’s and Cayman’s. MELROSE. Their own draft, plus New 6 Westminster’s #1. GRAND CAYMAN. Their #2 and #3. HUDSON, BROBDINGNAG. Hudson has their own draft plus Las Vegas #1; 5 Brobdingnag has their own and Knoxville’s STRONG CITY. Two #3s. #1 and two #3s. HOBOKEN. Their own draft and Midwest’s #2, which might be the first #2. NEW WESTMINSTER, CALUSA. Just 12 their #3. NORTHBORO. Their own draft, with an extra #3. 2 all in balanced LAS VEGAS. They pick in rounds 5, 7 RYE, MIDWEST, BLUE HILL, KANSAS, and 9. WHITMAN. Their own drafts, likely 10 higher up. 0 DETROIT, ZION, MARACAIBO. Their own drafts. (Maracaibo actually has Gotham City’s #3.) These indicators also appear 9 at the bottom WARRENTON, COLUMBUS. Their own of each team article, draft, with a higher up #1 and no #3. for your convenience. 6 The 2017 TBL Annual t.q. summary TEAM (DIVISION) OFFENSE DEFENSE PITCHING BENCH TOTAL The Cream of the Crop Grand Cayman (Williams) 13.5 6.0 15.0 2.5 37.0 Brobdingnag (Ruth) 14.0 6.0 14.0 3.0 37.0 New Westminster (Mays) 11.5 6.0 16.0 2.5 36.0 Hudson (Mantle) 11.0 4.5 13.5 2.0 31.0 Northboro (Williams) 10.0 3.5 13.5 3.0 30.0 Las Vegas (Aaron) 11.5 6.0 11.0 1.5 30.0 Munich (Mantle) 9.5 6.5 11.5 2.0 29.5 The Solid Performers Gotham City (Mays) 8.0 5.0 9.5 2.0 27.5 Maracaibo (Aaron) 8.0 5.0 12.0 2.5 27.5 Zion (Williams) 11.0 3.0 10.5 3.0 27.5 Calusa (Mays) 12.5 3.0 8.0 3.0 26.5 Hoboken (Ruth) 8.0 6.5 6.0 3.5 25.0 The Transitional Teams Detroit (Mantle) 8.5 3.5 8.5 2.0 24.0 Strong City (Aaron) 8.0 7.0 7.5 1.5 24.0 Whitman (Clemente) 7.5 7.0 5.5 2.0 22.0 Rye (Mays) 6.5 3.0 5.5 2.5 21.5 Columbus (Clemente) 7.5 3.5 8.5 2.0 21.5 The Rebuilders Kansas (Aaron) 6.0 5.0 7.0 1.5 18.5 Melrose (Aaron) 6.5 5.0 7.0 2.0 18.0 Riverwoolf (Clemente) 7.0 3.5 4.5 2.5 17.5 Knoxville (Ruth) 7.5 3.5 3.0 2.5 16.5 Warrenton (Williams) 5.5 4.5 4.0 2.5 16.5 Midwest (Ruth) 7.0 3.0 3.5 2.5 16.0 Blue Hill (Clemente) 7.0 4.0 2.5 2.0 15.5 Division Totals National 322.5 (26.9 average) Williams (NC) 115.5 Mays (IC) 105.5 International 291.5 (24.3 average) Aaron (NC) 111.0 Ruth (IC) 94.5 Mantle (NC) 106.0 Clemente (IC) 81.5 The 2017 TBL Annual 7 manager roll call Munich Marauders Mantle Division Paul Montague 34th year Hudson Generals Mantle Division Clay Beard 33rd year Elders of Zion Williams Division Richard Meyer 33rd year Gotham City Batmen Mays Division Anton Greenwald 32nd year Knoxville Outlaws Ruth Division Pat Martin 31st year Maracaibo Rumrunners Mays Division Walter Hunt 31st year Brobdingnag Barbarians Ruth Division Joe Auletta 29th year Hoboken Zephyrs Ruth Division Steve Powell 28th year Grand Cayman Havens Williams Division Mark Bloom 27th year Melrose Avengers Aaron Division Mark Freedman 24th year Blue Hill Mudslides Clemente Division Mark Ludwig 22nd year Whitman River Rats Clemente Division Brian Hanley 22nd year Las Vegas Gamblers Aaron Division Paul Harrington 21st year Northboro Phoenix Williams Division Robert Jordan 18th year Midwest Mongrels Ruth Division Darrell Skogen 16th year Northboro Phoenix Williams Division Steve Stein 15th year Strong City Statesmen Aaron Division Eric Sheffler 14th year Rye Herons Mays Division Craig Musselman 13th year New West Whiskeyjacks Mays Division Jim Jeatt 13th year Columbus Jets Mantle Division Vic Vaughn 11th year Kansas Koyotes Aaron Division Bill Schwartz 10th year Warrenton Giants Williams Division Jack Chapman 9th year Detroit Stars Mantle Division Dave Jaskot 6th year Calusa Indians Clemente Division Gordon Rodell 3rd year Riverwoolf Sharks Clemente Division Daniel Dumont 1st year Ray Murphy is serving his second year as our non-playing Commissioner. Hall of Fame managers in Bold Italic. 8 The 2017 TBL Annual 2017 computer pre-play by Clay Beard Here’s the setup for this thing. I used Duke Robinson Jr. best and worst seasons. That’s a to manage all the teams. I checked Fatigue only under wide spread even for this exer- Fatigue and Injury Rules. I also checked all three of the cise. By contrast Las Vegas and options at the bottom; Automatic AIM Subs, Enforce BFP, Brobdingnag were incredibly con- and that No PR > 930 thing, which provides some innocu- sistent, keeping it within 12 and ous usage. Something new this year is some “platoon 11 games respectively. awareness” thing which I checked. All players were active for the whole season. These settings basically allow the As usual the best races look to season to be played with usage similar to that of the MLB be the wild cards. The Williams second place team looks season with some innocuous help. to be a lock and Hudson looks like a solid 2nd, but there are Zion, Columbus, Kansas, and Detroit all lurk on the Then I just pushed the button and played the season 10 periphery with a real shot.